How Airbnb is using data to make travel more open for all

Key Takeaways

• Product and policy updates informed by Project Lighthouse have supported hundreds of thousands of bookings in the US over two years.
• Following these changes, the booking success rate has improved for all perceived racial groups since 2021, leading to more bookings for all.
• The largest booking success rate disparity in 2021, between guests perceived to be Black and guests perceived to be white, was cut almost in half.

Airbnb got its start in 2007 as a way for our co-founders to make rent. Since then, over 5 million people have become Airbnb hosts, who have opened their doors to over 2 billion guests in nearly every country in the world. One billion of those guest arrivals took place in just the last three years.

We’re focused on making our platform better for everyone, and making it easier for guests to book a listing is an important part of this work. Over the last three years, we have taken a design-driven approach to improve the end-to-end experience on Airbnb…